Author's Note:

Well hello everyone!

My gosh it's been a ridiculously busy but amazing week. Los Angeles was incredible! The Paramount Studios tour was glorious (and made me very sad I don't work there), The Legends of Oz premiere was super fun, and our rendezvous with Curt Mega was very special indeed for the whole family. My 6 year old now thinks that he's famous ;-P

So my apologies for not getting this out even close to on time. The airplane had no wifi which ordinarily wouldn't have been an issue except I really needed my girls' feedback to write this chapter because it was just not getting through all the other excitement.

This chapter encompasses Opening Night, Back Up Plan, and Old Dogs New Tricks, though it is primarily 5x18. It picks up pretty much where Opening Night ends. I told my amazing beta Typegirl19 that I wanted to name it "Opening Night Back Up Peter Plan". I'm don't know that it will live up to the long wait, but we can all just look forward to the Finale chapter!

I don't own Glee but I can now pinpoint every exterior scene that is filmed on the Paramount Lot. (Especially anything on the steps of Blaine and Samcedes apartment…which I may have squealed a little when I saw…and the Spotlight Diner, and the subway, and the NYADA doors, but I digress…)

"Ugh, my head is killing me right now," Kurt groaned. He rolled over in Blaine's bed away from the window and the glare of light that was penetrating his delicate eyeballs.

Blaine chuckled unsympathetically. "You didn't even drink anything last night Kurt." He swung out of bed and unceremoniously dropped his pillow over Kurt's eyes.

Kurt pushed it off and rolled over on top of it instead. He watched Blaine's gorgeous form as he stood to dress, his perfect view of his perfectly imperfect fiancé. "No I didn't drink, but we partied at Elliot's favorite gay bar all night, came home to Sue Sylvester having slept with some random in my bed, went out at the butt crack of dawn to stress over Rachel's reviews, learned Mr. Schue named the baby after Finn and finally came back here for a whopping three hours of sleep."

"You could have had five hours of sleep Kurt," Blaine smirked. "That was all your doing."

"You're sexy as hell dancing in a club full of half naked men with your bowtie undone. I didn't even stand a chance." Blaine laughed and Kurt groaned. "How the hell are you so chipper?"

"Because I only got three hours of sleep instead of five," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "And because I got to spend the evening with Tay Tay and 'Tana and your best friend just opened on Broadway." Blaine's eyes were wide with delight. "And I personally think it's hysterical that Sue Sylvester slept with some random in your bed."

"And all over the loft Blaine, that place needs to be disinfected," Kurt insisted.

"I'll do it for you," Blaine promised with a kiss.

"Well while you're doing stuff for me go make me some breakfast and coffee please before I pass out again and we miss our 3 o'clock class."

Blaine smiled and gave a quick salute. "You are my Gay Bar Superstar Kurt Hummel and your wish is my command."

Blaine went to the kitchen to set the coffee running, a dark roast hazelnut that they both enjoyed. Soon the smell filled the kitchen as he worked on the pancake batter. Kurt's gorgeous voice in the shower carried throughout the apartment and Blaine didn't think that a morning could ever be more perfect. Especially since it was already afternoon.

Kurt made his entrance just as Blaine was flipping the pancakes onto their plates and he poured them both cups of coffee. Kurt settled into a seat at the table. "So I saw you and Santana talking at the bar," Kurt mentioned while he sprinkled the tiniest amount of powdered sugar onto the plate Blaine placed in front of him. "You find out what her plans are?"

"She doesn't seem to really have any other than crashing on our couch," Blaine said. "I can't believe you called her in the taxi. I was too afraid she would make everything worse honestly."

"Well, the one person Rachel really needed isn't here." Kurt said with a frown. "For better or worse there's no one more capable of getting Rachel to hear his voice in her head than Santana." Blaine nodded. He wasn't sure he'd ever understand the relationship between those two but he had to admit there was a connection there. "Besides," Kurt continued. "She always gets your head on straight. I figured it couldn't really hurt at that point."

"You are a smart man," Blaine agreed. He took a sip of his coffee and a bite of his food and watched Kurt carefully for a moment. Part of him thought he shouldn't bring it up. But the other part needed to make sure he was alright. "So are you okay?"

Kurt glanced up. By all rights he should have had absolutely no idea what Blaine was talking about. But the soft amber glow of Blaine's eyes and the lip being worried between his teeth told Kurt all he needed to know. "I should be used to it by now, right?" Kurt asked with a sigh. Blaine reached across the table and took his hand. "It's not like it's a surprise. I think everyone knew he'd name the baby Finn."

"Still…" Blaine said softly. He rubbed his thumb against Kurt's knuckles soothingly.

"I guess I just wonder how many more things I'm going to lose to him?" Kurt thought aloud. He'd never put these thoughts into words before, he felt guilty even for thinking them sometimes, but they had been there for a long time now. "It just doesn't seem fair sometimes. He was my brother but sometimes it seems Mr. Schue thinks he is instead. Best Man at his wedding, the letterman jacket, now his name-"

Blaine's brow rose in shock. "You really think he took the letterman jacket?" he asked.

"I'd bet on it," Kurt shrugged dismissively. He'd come to terms with that a long time ago. The fact that Finn wouldn't be there standing beside him when he married was another story. "But it's nice. That he named the baby after Finn."

"It is, I just…I don't know." Blaine frowned. "I kinda feel like it's something he should have talked to you about first. Given you first dibs."

"It doesn't stop us Blaine," Kurt said, squeezing Blaine's hand tightly. Kurt understood that when it came to Finn Blaine had his own unresolved feelings. Unfinished business that he felt he still needed to make right. Besides, Blaine had always been the far more sentimental one of the two of them. "If we have a boy and you want to name him after Finn then that's what we'll do. It doesn't matter if Schue did it first. The way I see it, the more Finn's in the world the better."

Blaine's eyes watered and he tilted his head in awe. "I love you."

Kurt smiled softly. "I love you too."

"Oh my god Blaine sometimes I wonder how you even keep your gay card," Kurt snapped in frustration.

There were magazines sprawled all over the coffee table and Kurt had been pouring over them in study. Blaine strummed away on his guitar paying absolutely no attention until Kurt snatched it from his fingers.

Blaine could have pouted but instead his eyes grew heavy and he grinned hungrily. "I could show you," he said, crawling up Kurt's body temptingly. He never gave Kurt a chance to resist, just dove in and captured his fiancé's lips in a delicious kiss that sent blood flowing directly south. He pressed his hips lightly, letting Kurt feel him. "Gay card. Right here," Blaine quipped against Kurt's lips. Kurt smirked but pushed Blaine off of him unrelentingly. Blaine toppled over and laughed. Kurt glared at him sternly and Blaine regained his composure, curling his legs beneath him but otherwise sitting up straight and tall like the good student he was. "Fine Professor Hummel. Tell me everything you know about June Dolloway."

Kurt opened up website after website reading to him about all the events she'd attended and people she'd known. Blaine had to admit that the more he learned the more excited he became to sing for her and maybe even get to meet her and ask her a question or two about all of the fascinating people she'd met in her lifetime. He was snuggled into Kurt's side, reading over his shoulder and listening intently to a story from ten years ago, when a tiny little picture and blurb on the bottom right hand side of the page caught his attention and sent his mind stirring.

"Cooper do you know who June Dolloway is?"

Kurt had gone home for the night after school. Blaine had long ago climbed into bed, but he lay awake until his brother was likely to be home from set. The memory had held firm, tugging at the back of his mind. And he knew his brother held the answer.

"Of course I do Squirt, she's only one of the biggest socialites America has ever seen," Cooper said. "American Royalty. But you know her too."

Blaine's brow raised. "I do?"

"Sure." Blaine could hear his brother's grin through the phone. "Let's see, you were about 7 and I was 17 and Grandfather had brought us to one of those rich dish Galas he loved so much, some Westerville Symphony Fundraiser or something. He always paraded us around the room and introduced us to all the elite, though I never knew if he was showing us off to them or them off to us. Either way, that night we both met June Dolloway."

"I don't remember," Blaine said softly, deep in thought, but a part of him had suspected as much because that event was exactly the one in the article.

"Well I'm not surprised, you were only 7. That night may have actually been our first public performance together of Rio though, Grandfather had us up on stage singing for our supper," Cooper remembered. "We brought in a pretty penny too. I killed it."

"Was she nice? June I mean?"

"Well if I remember correctly she took a very special liking to me, of course," Cooper gloated. "Why all the questions Blaine?"

"Kurt and I are gonna being singing for her at NYADA. She's donated a bunch of money and Kurt was chosen to perform for her and he asked me to join him."

"Blaine that's amazing!" Cooper shouted. Blaine laughed at his enthusiasm.

"It's for Kurt, he's the one that really wants to meet her. Maybe see if she'll take him under her wing, which would be just amazing." Blaine said. "I'm only singing 'cause he asked me, but it should be fun."

"It'll be more than fun Blaine. She's gonna love you. You are my brother after all," Cooper told him. "Kurt better watch out."

Kurt skittered around the soon to be dedicated Dolloway Dance Lab, wringing his hands and biting his lip. "Oh my god I'm so nervous," he breathed, bouncing from toe to toe.

Blaine looked over at him and smiled. One of the things he loved about Kurt was just how nervous he still got in front of a crowd even though he was one of the most incredible voices Blaine had ever heard. "Don't be nervous, she is going to love you," he promised.

"But what if she doesn't?" Kurt looked at him with earnest. He was used to being overlooked and rejected because of who he was or the sound that came out of his mouth. The acceptance he'd been feeling lately at NYADA was foreign to him.

Blaine knew this and he knew how to deal with it. He wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and held him close, letting Kurt's racing heart settle into the slower rhythm of his own. "If she doesn't then you and I will keep fighting and working until somebody does notice just how incredible a talent you are." Blaine nuzzled into the crook of Kurt's neck, one of his most favorite places in the world. "Just like everyone at NYADA has learned, and just like I have always known from the moment I heard you sing."

Kurt looked over his shoulder at Blaine and smirked. "Not before?" he teased.

"No," Blaine hummed into his ear. "Before I just knew I loved you."

Kurt's worries melted into a bright smile. "Me too."

"Now June, you know as well as I do we couldn't ask a freshmen to sing at the dedication." Carmen Tibedeaux looked up sternly at the socialite from behind her desk. June may have had the money but Carmen still had the authority to make this decision. "But Mr. Hummel is very talented, a rising star at this school and quite predictably he has asked his fiancé to sing along with him."

"And he's doing well?" June asked, settling into the chair across from Carmen. "Blaine I mean?"

Carmen frowned slightly. "We've had some issues with a sense of entitlement but I think we've nipped that in the bud. Otherwise yes, he's doing as well as you said he would."

"Good. Now let me judge for myself."

June rose to her feet and made her way to the door to await her introduction. When the doors opened she thanked the crowd and took her seat in the audience, glancing over at the boys surreptitiously. She hadn't seen him perform in person since he was at Dalton but she'd followed him online. She had to admit she'd been worried that his star might burn out surrounded by true competition, but it seemed he was burning as bright as ever.

She scrutinized his performance intently, but less than a minute in with a shy flutter of the eyes she saw exactly what she'd seen so long ago in that 7 year old boy. Though she'd lost track of him after that first time until he'd started leading the Warblers at Dalton, she'd been right from the very beginning. He was a star, inside and out. The charisma that had always been there had only matured over time. Every love and every heartache adding beautiful layer upon beautiful layer to the soul that made him shine.

Kurt, on the other hand, didn't have that. Carmen was right, he had a beautiful voice, but much like Blaine's brother Cooper, he tried too hard. But it wasn't just that. June could see that Kurt kept a distance from his pain, walling it off instead of inviting it in to let it sit and simmer to develop flavor. Kurt was talented, but he wasn't right. Not for her crowd.

Not for her plans.

Written on these walls are the colors that I can't change
Leave my heart open but it stays right here in its cage
I know that in the morning now I see us in the light upon a hill
Although I am broken, my heart is untamed, still

Blaine waved to June on the front stoop of his apartment and rolled into his apartment at one in the morning, barely able to keep his eyes open. The night had been amazing but exhausting as well, emotionally and physically, performing on and off the stage. Fighting the demons that he refused to let surface. Because walking into the Soho gala was like walking into a memory for Blaine.

Even though he and the Warblers had occasionally performed at events like this inevitably hosted by Dalton parents or alum, what Blaine vividly remembered now was exactly what Cooper had described. June led him around the room just like his grandfather had so many years ago and throughout the night introduced him to every single one of her very influential friends. They'd all seemed bigger so long ago but so much came back to him. Most especially his grandfather's words.

Find yourself a pretty lady to walk on your arm Blaine and the society magazines will keep a handsome boy like you set for life.

After his grandfather had died the parties became a little bit smaller and a little less luxurious but no less snobbish. In fact, because the money was less and the country club crowd was trying so hard it was probably even more so. And the pressure to find a pretty lady for his arm grew more and more.

"Blaine, come up please, I want to introduce you," June called. Blaine looked around. By his brother's side when he was 7 years old and carefree was one thing, but now he had to meet June's expectations. His performance would reflect on her. "Blaine Anderson."

Stepping onto the stage, looking out at the crowd he couldn't help but flashback to the fateful day he'd sung Baby Its Cold Outside. But the moment the music started and he looked up at June the Dalton mask and performance settled deep inside him. It was so easy to fall back into old patterns.

If he had been straight, this was exactly what his life would have been.

Walking into his bedroom, trying to let go of the night, he stripped off his coat and tie, hanging them both on the back of his chair before switching on the light to get ready for bed.

"What the hell!"

He jumped back slightly as his sheets rustled and a sleepy Santana sat up in his bed rubbing her eyes. "What's a girl got to do to get a little shut eye around here?"

"Uh, stay in your own bed maybe?" Blaine suggested with a brow cocked. "What are you doing in here?"

Santana though didn't move, she just grabbed his pillow and snuggled into it again. "I am pretty sure they call it sleeping Boyfriend, you should look it up. It's something you and Kurt don't do when you're together and apparently neither do Sam and Mercedes even though they're flying Virgin."

"Virgin doesn't mean dead 'Tana," Blaine smirked.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure it does," Santana countered.

Blaine just rolled his eyes and pulled back the sheets. "It doesn't, believe me. Now get the hell out of my bed."

Santana though pulled the sheets back up. "You snooze you lose. I'll move over. It's the best offer you're going to get tonight," she said.

Blaine sighed. "Fine." He went to the bathroom and took a quick shower before putting on some pajamas and climbing into bed with Santana. "I get my pillow though." He yanked it out from under her head and lay down. He closed his eyes in frustration when she stole the blankets from him in retaliation but eventually they settled in. Quiet fell over the room and Blaine was almost asleep when Santana woke him.

"So how was the party rich boy?" she asked.

"Like déjà vu," Blaine muttered, his eyes slowly opening again.

Santana rolled over onto her side and tucked her hand beneath her chin. "How so?"

Blaine shifted to face her, but his eyes were distant in memory. "When I was young, especially when my dad was deployed, my grandfather used to come around a lot, probably to keep an eye on us. He would take Coop and my mom and me to these tremendous galas. Maybe not quite the 1% of the 1% like tonight, but close enough. I remember being just so mesmerized by everything, the lights and the excitement and just the electricity that buzzed around the room. I wanted so badly to be a part of it, to live that life where it seemed that everything was beautiful and nothing hurt." He met Santana's eyes shining in the darkness. "And my grandfather wanted it too. I was raised for it Santana. I was groomed to be the golden boy on the beautiful girl's arm."

"Except you were looking for the handsome boy's arm instead," Santana noted gently.

"Yeah." Blaine closed his eyes. The pain was still deep in his heart. He was coming to terms with the fact that it would probably never fully leave. "But now it's different, you know?" he said softly. "I'm out and proud and engaged to Kurt and June doesn't care. And I wonder if maybe I really can have that life anyway?"

"Except there's still no man on your arm Blaine," Santana pointed out and her tone was a touch harsh. "You're still leaving Kurt behind."

Blaine's heart sunk slightly, guilt rolling through him. "That's not why though," he said defensively.

Santana would have bet all of June's money it was but she didn't say that. "Why did you stop going to these things? When you were a kid?"

"Dad loved that world, fit in perfectly, and he always greatly approved of us learning proper etiquette and diplomacy and all the other things that high society showed to the outside word. But my mom hated it. She said she didn't like the types of people he was exposing us to though I never really understood what she was so afraid of. Even after my grandfather died, when my Dad returned from Iraq we kept going for a bit. Dad was this big war hero and it was fashionable then to honor veterans. But eventually that grew out of style and with too much of my grandfather's money tied up in trust funds for me and Cooper my Dad settled for the country club life instead. I still performed all the time," Blaine said then grew quieter. "Until word got out."

"Was that after the Sadie Hawkins dance?" Santana asked carefully.

"No. Dad was somehow able to keep that all quiet then and Dalton played right into the beautiful lie he told the world," Blaine said. "It was after Christmas three years ago." He'd told her before about what had happened. "That was the last time I was invited to sing."

"That world is full of beautiful lies Blaine, you know that," Santana warned him. "You should be careful. I know it's easy to get caught back up in it, it's rich and glamorous and it holds opportunities you can't find anywhere else. But it also forces sacrifices Blaine. Ones you may not be willing to make."

Blaine thought back to his evening and he frowned. "June isn't like that," he told Santana. And himself.

"Just be careful," she said softly. "Things are never quite what they seem."

Blaine nodded. He knew that better than anyone. "I will."

Blaine was out another night with June and Kurt was curled up on his couch very happily watching television when Santana came barging in dressed to the nines. He tried to get her to leave. He failed miserably.

"Look Hummel, I am not going to let you sit around here rewatching season after season of whatever god awful show you are watching," Santana snapped, staring at the screen with disgust. There were girls with nose jobs that looked worse than Berry's original and booties bigger than the ones in Sam's last ad campaign. "Get your ass up and go out with me. The jazz club awaits."

Kurt pouted and settled further into the couch. "I'm just not really feeling like going out Santana," he groaned.

She picked up the remote and turned the television off. "Don't care." Ignoring his death glare she grabbed his wallet and threw it at him. "Listen to me. They're plastic," she said pointing to the television. "Smoke and mirrors pretending to be people they aren't in order to make a name for themselves. Sound familiar?" she raised a brow.

That got Kurt's attention. "That's not what Blaine's doing with June," he insisted, standing up and putting his wallet in his pocket.

"Sure. And it's not what Mercedes is doing on her album either," she said sarcastically. "You and I, we have just as much of what it takes to make it, the difference is that we aren't willing to compromise who we are to be what they want."

"Blaine isn't either," Kurt protested but Santana just hummed.

"We'll see," she muttered and pushed him out the door. They walked in silence toward the club, the horns and sirens surrounding them as dusk fell over the city. "I've been gone too long. None of you can manage life on your own without me. You're all falling to pieces."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I think that's a little egotistical Santana." They rounded the corner and headed down the two blocks to the subway. "Blaine can handle himself in that crowd just fine."

"It won't be hard for him Kurt. To slip back into that life. A life with a lot of not so good memories." Kurt shoved his hands in his pockets, trying not to believe her but knowing she was right. "And no matter how beautiful it looks on the outside, it isn't really a pretty place," Santana continued. She stopped at the top of the subway stairs, leaning against the rail. "You know that and he knows that and yet you're both so willing to let him fall." She looked at him and she could see his mind turning. Take one for the team, Kurt had told him. Would the price be too high? "You might want to ask yourself why." Santana raised a brow before heading down into the station.

Kurt paused a minute, considering her words. The fact was he knew exactly why. It was the same reason Rachel had flown off to Los Angeles.

Chasing a dream was always more exhilarating than catching one.

"Hey Mom, what's up?" Blaine was walking from class to meet June at the restaurant. June had told him she had something important she wanted to talk about and Kurt had just kissed him on the cheek and told him to go ahead.

"Is it true that you've been spending time with June Dolloway?" his obviously upset mother asked.

He hesitated slightly to answer. "Where did you hear that?"

Amy scoffed. "You don't hang out with a woman like that and have it go unnoticed Blaine," she chastised. "I have people stopping me in the grocery store. Gossip magazines prey on these kinds of stories and I don't like it."

"Mom, I don't know-"

"Blaine I know it's been a while but you know exactly how I feel about that crowd. You were still pretty young when we were in the thick of it but I steered Cooper away from those benefactors on purpose and you…" she stopped short, not wanting to say the wrong thing. "Those people wouldn't accept you for who you were Blaine. I'm not sure why you'd want to go back into that world."

"June's not like that," Blaine protested, anger building because he was sick of having to defend himself and June. If Santana had called her and the magazines were just an excuse then he had a thing or two to say to his best friend. "And maybe the world's changed."

"And maybe it hasn't," she countered.

"Well then maybe I have," Blaine snapped. "Maybe I'm old enough and smart enough to make my own decisions about who I spend time with and where I go. Kurt supports me, I don't know why you and Santana won't."

Amy sighed, a silence falling over the call. Blaine rounded the corner to the restaurant and he saw June waiting for him inside. He tried to let his anger go before he said something he'd regret to either rof them. "Look Blaine, I will always support you," his mother assured him. "But I also want what's best for you and I don't know that this is it."

Blaine bit his lip and he glanced to June then down to the ground. "I don't know if it is either Mom," he admitted. "But June's my friend and she's done a lot for me already. And I love it Mom. I love her stories and the parties and being in the middle of so many amazing people. And they don't seem to care that I'm gay Mom, not anymore, not like it used to be."

"Do you see any other gay couples there?" Amy asked. Blaine pressed his hand to his face. He didn't want to have to deal with this, not anymore. "These people say one thing and do another. I know you want to believe in the best of people and I love that about you, but please, just be careful."

Blaine nodded, his stomach clenching and for the second time he made the same promise. "I will."

It was the footsteps in the dark that woke her for the third time in the last thirty minutes. "I swear to God Blaine if you pace back and forth between the kitchen and your bedroom one more time I am going to tie you to your bed and not in any sort of a good way," Santana growled. Her eyes were squinting with sleep as she sat up on the couch, curling up with her pillow in her arms. "Now what the hell is eating you up so much?"

"It's nothing, I'm sorry I woke you," Blaine muttered starting back to his room but Santana stopped him.

"It's clearly not nothing, Boyfriend, so now that you've woken me up you best get your perky little ass sitting on this couch and talk to me," Santana ordered.

If there was one thing in the world that Blaine needed to learn it was how to say no, but tonight would not be the night and Santana would not be his first attempt. And reality was if he didn't talk this out he would be much to wracked with guilt to fall asleep and he knew that no matter what he could always tell Santana the truth. "It's Kurt," Blaine sighed, sitting down across from her. He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. "Well actually it's me. I kinda lied to him."

"I don't think kinda and lie really go together in Kurt's mind," Santana said.

Blaine squeezed his eyes shut, running his hand through his hair. "I know, and I didn't mean to it's just, I wanted so badly for June to let Kurt be in my showcase and then, god Santana you should have seen how his face lit up when I told him he could sing, I just want to always be able to do that for him, you know, make his face light up like that? And he deserves it Santana, he really does and June is wrong, the world does need to see his talent, but now I have to convince her of that and I don't think I can." Blaine finally stopped to breathe and Santana stared back at him like he had just confessed to killing three puppies.

"I don't even know what to say to you right now Anderson." Santana shook her head angrily. "What is it about you and Mercedes that makes you think you can get the rest of the world to love us when we're clearly not wanted."

Blaine's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you're not wanted?"

Santana's fierceness softened and she bit her lip with a vulnerability that was rarely seen by anyone other than Brittany or Blaine. "Mercedes tried to get me on her album as a duet partner. And apparently I'm not what the label is looking for. Which is fine." Her eyes raised to Blaine with a sternness that made him shrink slightly. "I'm glad I know rather than thinking I am and having the rug pulled out from under me."

"I won't let that happen," Blaine swore, but he knew that Santana was right. June had been very clear she didn't want to showcase Kurt, didn't even want him to be with Kurt. Just like Santana and her mother had both tried to warn him. His fingers twirled a phantom wedding band on his left hand. "I can't let that happen. I can't hurt him like that."

"You're playing a dangerous game Boyfriend," Santana warned her. "This June Dolloway isn't going to give a crap about what you want or what's good for you. People like that are what folks in Lima Heights Adjacent would call a vulture. She'll pick and pick at you until she's had her fill and then she'll drop you and move on."

Blaine wished he could once again say that June wasn't like that. But at least a little part of Blaine had to finally admit that maybe Santana and his mom were right. "Well if that's true than I need to take my chance while I can," Blaine said firmly. "But I promise I will take Kurt with me. We're running this race together or not at all."

Kurt swung Blaine's hand exiting the Spotlight Diner, nearly skipping down the shadowed New York City streets. It wasn't just how much he'd missed Kurt over the last week that made Blaine unable take his eyes off of him. It was simply that there was absolutely nothing better than seeing Kurt glow with the happiness that everything at the nursing home and Rachel's project had given him.

He hated that soon he'd been the one to crash it all down around them with his own lies. Because though he'd been trying all week to get June to change her mind about Kurt, he was having no luck. And now he'd dug his own grave and soon would have to face the music. But now wasn't that time. Now he'd enjoy this moment as much as he could and his eyes shined, a smile teasing at his lips.

Kurt glanced at Blaine out of the corner of his eye. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked with a crooked grin.

"I just…" Blaine bowed his head as his heart swelled. "I'm just really proud of you Kurt. Everything you did tonight. Watching you fly…it was amazing."

"Well the harness helped," Kurt smirked.

"I don't mean the harness," Blaine said softly. He stopped out front of a bookstore and he took Kurt's hands, holding them tight. Proud tears shined in eyes full of love. "You are my lucky star Kurt. You have been for so long now and you always always will be no matter what."

Kurt blushed. "You're such a sap," he teased.

But Blaine was too lost in his eyes and in the past to care. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight-"

"There aren't stars in New York," Kurt interrupted.

"Don't ruin this," Blaine scolded quickly and Kurt lowered his eyes and smiled demurely. "Do you remember, about two years ago? We stood outside my father's house in the freezing cold and you asked me what I used to wish for on the stars when I was a kid."

Of course Kurt remembered. "You said you wished for me."

"And you asked me what I used to wish for before you," Blaine reminded him. When Kurt had sung tonight it had all come back. "And I wouldn't tell you because then it wouldn't come true. So you wrapped me in your arms," he said as he wrapped Kurt in his, "and whispered in my ear: Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight."

"I wish I may," Kurt continued, "I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight."

Blaine nuzzled into Kurt's neck. He didn't care at all who was watching. "I know how you felt about my dad that night Kurt. But even so you encouraged me to keep trying. Because he was trying and he was alive and as long as he was alive I should have a chance to have a father. Because once they're gone, they're gone. And you were right." A tear slipped from Blaine's eyes and he swallowed against the rising tide, brushing it away. He looked up to the empty sky and let out a breath. "I wished not to lose him. When I was a kid, that was what I wished for." Kurt turned in Blaine's arms. He could see the pain in Blaine's eyes though he wasn't sure exactly where it was coming from. "Though I always hated the way he treated me I was still terrified every day that I would go too far, I would make one mistake too many and finally he'd just give up on me and walk away forever."

"Blaine," Kurt sighed.

Blaine shook his head, reaching up to caress Kurt's cheek. "I just wanted you to know," he said softly. "Watching you sing that song, watching you fly. I just…" He rolled his lips nervously between his teeth. He still had time to make things right, but just in case he couldn't… "I just wanted you to know my wish."

Kurt's brow furrowed with worry, but he gave a quick nod and a small smile. "Okay." Kurt linked his arm in Blaine's and started back down the street. And quietly he sang as they walked home.

Just come with me where dreams are born
And time is never planned
Just think of happy things
And your heart will fly on wings
In Never Never Land.

Author's Note:

I hope you liked it. I love your reviews so please let me know your thoughts. I'm so excited for the finale!

** The first reference to June, Blaine having fans in high places, it's Chapter 28 of Ready to Fly, Moving Out.

** The first Starlight Starbright scene is Chapter 9 of Way Out, Mash Up.